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Magnum is an ice cream brand owned by the British/Dutch Unilever company and sold as part of the Heartbrand line of products in most countries.
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History
The ice cream today known as Magnum was developed in Belgium at the Ola laboratory (Baasrode) in cooperation with the Belgian chocolate producer Callebaut and released in Germany in January 1989 as an upmarket ice cream for the existing Nogger brand. It was originally manufactured by Frisko in Denmark. The original Magnum (later rebranded as Magnum Classic) consisted of a thick bar of vanilla ice cream on a stick, with a chocolate coating. As there was no real chocolate which could stand the temperature of −40 degrees Celsius, an ad hoc chocolate had to be developed. The original Magnum had a weight of 86 grams and a volume of 120 mL).
The company also started selling Magnum ice cream cones in 1994 and an ice cream sandwich in 2002.
Varieties
Starting in 1992, the company added Magnum Almond, Double Chocolate, and other flavours. In 2002, Magnum branched into frozen yogurt with their raspberry fruit swirl covered in milk chocolate. Moments were introduced which were bite-size ice cream treats with caramel, chocolate, or hazelnut centres, followed later in the year by "mini", "crunchy" (with almonds), and "light". Late 2002 saw the launch of Magnum Intense, a chocolate truffle center enveloped in ice cream and covered with chocolate, and the limited edition 7 Deadly Sins series of ice creams, whose flavours were named after the seven deadly sins. Sins was followed by another limited edition range in 2005 in which each flavour was named after one of the senses: Magnum Aroma, Magnum Touch, Magnum Sound, Magnum Taste, and Magnum Sight.
In 2003, Streets, the brand under which Magnum is sold in Australia and New Zealand, brought out a limited edition series of ice creams known as The Sixties Nine featuring sixties-related names: John Lemon, Wood Choc, Jami Hendrix, ChocWork Orange, Peace ManGO, Cinnaman on the Moon, Cherry Guevara, Candy Warhol and Guava Lamp. Consumers who collected nine of these ice cream sticks could send them off to gain a free Magnum T-shirt. The extreme popularity of the ChocWork Orange resulted in Streets selling it as the "Chocolate Orange" Magnum for some time after the remainder of the range was discontinued. Similarly, the Peppermint Envy of the Seven Deadly Sins range became "Peppermint" and is still available in Australia today.
In Greece, the Magnum brand name is owned by Nestlé, so the Unilever ice cream uses the name Magic.
In 2008, Magnum brought out new variants in the UK—Mayan Mystica, a chocolate ice cream Magnum blended with cinnamon, nutmeg and honey flavours; and Magnum Minis available in a variety of flavours. Eva Longoria was the face of Magnum in 2008. Also in 2008, Josh Holloway, from television's Lost, was selected as the first male spokesperson of Magnum in Turkey. Benicio del Toro and Caroline Correa starred in a television commercial for Magnum Gold, directed by Bryan Singer.
In 2009, Magnum Mini Moments were launched. They came in three types of chocolate: milk, white and dark all with 5 different flavours including almond, truffle etc.
In China, the Magnum name is retained; however, there are fewer varieties—as of 2009 there are only vanilla, cappuccino, and crunchy. Mint and double chocolate were introduced in 2006/7 but were pulled from the market in 2008 (or possibly before).
In 2011, Magnum ice cream was launched in the US and Canada with six varieties: Double Caramel, Double Chocolate, Classic, Almond, White and Dark.
In 2011, actress Rachel Bilson became the spokesperson for the ice cream brand.
In April 2014, Magnum ice cream was launched in India by Hindustan Unilever.
In 2014, The Philippines opened a "make-your-own" or "do-it-yourself" Magnum dessert bar/cafe called Magnum Manila. First branch at SM Aura's Sky Park, Taguig.